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Entertainment Weekly is running a cover story this week about how much coming out has changed in America since 1997 when Ellen DeGeneres announced she was a lesbian. Everyone probably remembers the TIME magazine cover declaring “I’m Gay”.
It was a big deal. Big news. Headlines for weeks or more. Protests, outrage, and then her sitcom fizzled away.
Nowadays, it seems we’re barely raising eyebrows at people coming out. Sure, it’d be a big deal if it turned out some famous A-lister who had been seen around with starlets came out, but the shock would be more about his double life than about the fact of homosexuality.
Entertainment Weekly explains how and why the changes in how the public reacts to a person’s coming out are important:
But sometimes big news arrives quietly. That new blink-and-you’ll-miss-it style is an important hallmark of changing times. Fifteen years further into the evolution of gay equality than DeGeneres was, Parsons joins American Horror Story’s Zachary Quinto, White Collar’s Matt Bomer, and any number of other gay TV personalities, from Modern Family’s Jesse Tyler Ferguson to Glee’s Jane Lynch to CNN anchor Don Lemon to Bravo’s Andy Cohen, who have pretty much put to rest any questions about the viability of being out in showbiz.
Even if it’s accomplished in a subordinate clause or a passing reference, coming out casually is, in its way, as activist as DeGeneres’ Time cover, although few of these actors would probably choose to label themselves as such. The current vibe for discussing one’s sexuality is almost defiantly mellow: This is part of who I am, I don’t consider it a big deal or a crisis, and if you do, that’s not my problem.
And in general, society is just not that offended anymore. And many actors feel that their coming out really matters to young people who are looking for role models. Salon.com recently did a story about actor Zachary Quinto that explains:
What makes Quinto’s disclosure unique isn’t that he’s finally acknowledged his sexuality. It’s that his announcement came after nearly a decade of high-profile success — and consistently terse refusals to discuss his private life.
Many credit Quinto’s work with The Trevor Project, which supplies support and suicide prevention to gay teens, as well as a spate of recent suicides by gay teens for encouraging Quinto to come out.
What do you think? How does the change in which celebrities are coming out reflect changes in our society?
Do the changes in Hollywood’s relationship to LGBTQ people reflect changes in the average American’s life?
Also read: Joanna Schroeder’s Dear Internet: Stop Outing People
AP Photo/ Chris Pizello